Report Prepared by: Casey Wilson, Interim Fire Chief, Scott McBride City Manager
Title
SUBJECT: Approval of a Stop Gap Aid Agreement for Fire Services and Emergency Operations Coordination Between the City of Merced and Merced County, and Provide Direction to Staff to Continue Exploring Long Term Options for Automatic Aid or Other Service Options Between the Two Agencies
REPORT IN BRIEF
Considers approving a Stop Gap Aid Agreement for Fire Services and Emergency Operations Coordination between the City of Merced and Merced County for the period of January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026, and provide direction to staff to continue exploring long term options for Automatic Aid or other service options between the two agencies.
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Approving a Stop Gap Aid Agreement for Fire Services and Emergency Operations Coordination between the City of Merced and Merced County for the period of January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2026; and,
B. Authorizing the City Manager or Designee to execute the agreement; and,
C. Authorizing the Finance Officer to increase revenue in the amount of $157,692 for Fiscal Year 2024-25 in the General Fund-Fire Division; and,
D. Provide direction to staff to continue exploring long term options for Automatic Aid or other service options between the two agencies.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve, as recommended by staff; or,
2. Approve, subject to modifications as conditioned by City Council; or,
3. Refer to staff for reconsideration of specific items; or,
4. Deny.
DISCUSSION
Background
The City of Merced City Council provided direction to staff to explore opportunities to provide Fire and emergency operation services to Merced County to assist in area generally defined as north of Hwy 140, west of Kibby Rd, West of N. Lake Rd. and East of G St, and south of Old Lake Rd. This area is currently being provided Fire and EMS services through Merced County - CALFIRE with primary responses coming from Station 85 located on McKee Rd. Due to budgetary constraints being faced by Merced County this station is planned for closure on January 1, 2025.
Both city and county staff held a series of meetings to discuss various options. Additionally, city staff discussed options and received feedback from the City Council Public Safety Sub Committee. The entire council was briefed at the May 6, 2024, regular meeting and the special meeting held on December 9, 2024. Both agenda reports and presentations are incorporated as Attachments 2 and 3.
Staff is requesting that the council consider allowing the City of Merced to enter into a Stop Gap Aid Agreement for Fire and EMS Services with Merced County. This agreement would cover a two-year term from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026.
Aid Agreement Details
A copy of the proposed agreement is included as Attachment 1. Specific details of this agreement would include the following.
Term - The term of the agreement generally follows the timing of the 2023 SAFER Grant. During this time period the city has additional grant paid positions, twenty-four in total, that provide greater flexibility to allow for this aid agreement to be serviced. The SAFER grant ends in March 2027.
Responsibilities - Under the Aid Agreement the City will respond to incidents in the county service area defined in the agreement, Exhibit A. Calls will come into the CALFIRE Dispatch Center and then a call will be made to the City’s system. For structure and vegetation fires both City Fire and CALFIRE will respond to the incident. The city’s arrival to the incident is likely to be less than CALFIRE being dispatched from Station 81, Martin Luther King Blvd. - Hwy 59.
Operationally, city resources will remain on scene until such time as CALFIRE is able to take over the incident. The city will respond with multiple assets consistent with the city’s training and incident protocols. For other incident types such as emergency medical and vehicular accidents only the city will respond. The County and CALFIRE will retain all other jurisdictional responsibilities such as fire prevention, investigation, plan review, and incident reporting - except emergency medical and vehicular accidents.
Service Approach - The approach to providing services will be based on a Squad concept. This Squad will be located at Station 53 however the closest available city assets will be dispatched to calls. That means any asset from any station that is in closest proximity will respond to a service call. The Squad concept is really to address capacity needs based on call volumes.
The Squad concept allows for a small company, normally two firefighters, to assist with the overflow of supplemental calls. Staffing for the Squad will be through existing city fire fighters, no new positions are being added. The city will be receiving a Type 6 engine to support the Squad. It’s anticipated to be delivered in December 2024 and be operational by the end of January 2025.
UC Merced Relationship - prior to the annexation by the city of the University of California Merced Campus, Merced County - CALFIRE provided fire and EMS services. Previously the UC Merced was serviced by Merced County Station 85 and the university assumed a share of the costs for staffing at that station to ensure it had adequate resources to support the campus in addition to the existing service area. Post-annexation, those services have fully transitioned and are the responsibility of the city. Presently there is no fee being charged by the city to UC Merced for fire and EMS services and the city has adequate capacity to serve the campus without impacting city responses while discussions on an agreement between the city and UC Merced continue.
The city conducted research on service contracts involving University of California and State Universities and local agencies. Each are unique to the local specific circumstances. The two universities that are nearest to Merced, Stanislaus State and Fresno State do not have specific contracts for fire and EMS with the local agency. The city also does not have a service contract with Merced College or any other school sites within the city.
There have been ongoing discussions with UC Merced regarding long term service needs at the campus. They are unique from those typically provided to residents and businesses within the city. There’s more attention on EMS response, evacuation, and incident planning. There’s also interest in longer term standby to support university events. The Squad approach would also assist in providing services to UC Merced. Many of the unique needs can be addressed with less than an engine or truck.
UC Merced representatives have expressed interest in supporting the city long term. Staff originally discussed a multi way JPA with equal shares of costs. Given the different types of services required and strong interest by the university to be in an exclusive agreement with the city, that original concept is no longer being pursued. Additionally due to the scheduled closure date for Merced County Station 85 staff felt it was best to move forward to address the Merced County needs while UC Merced discussions continue separately.
Fee for Service - Staff is proposing that the fee for service for Merced County - CALFIRE be $315,384, first year. The agreement amount will increase in year two based on the approved COLA for Fire and EMS positions, 4% for the second year.
As noted during the presentation to City Council on December 9, 2024, the Squad approach helps to even out high call volume times. The plan to add a Squad to Station 53 has been in process for time and this decision was not tied to any proposed contracts for service with Merced County - CALFIRE or UC Merced.
Currently the station handles approximately 3,405 calls per year, 2023 data. A similar volume of calls, 3,559, is responded to from Station 51 however that station has an engine and truck company. Station 53 has an engine company only.
This proposed fee is based off full personnel costs for a year of approximately $947,120. There is a benefit to the city, County, and potentially UC Merced. The exact share of benefit is open to discussion and certainly a policy decision the City Council has discretion to decide.
Fire Staff did an analysis and the number of annual calls for the proposed county service area. For the prior year it is just over one per day, 417 last year. UC Merced for the prior year is 350. This was part of the original basis for considering a third split between each entity. However, regardless of any proposed agreement with Merced County - CALFIRE or UC Merced that is executed the Squad is already needed to address current city call volumes.
On going discussions
In addition to the approval of the aid agreement staff is seeking direction to continue longer term service options. This stop gap provides a two-year period to identify additional options to explore different approaches to services.
One that has previously been discussed is a potential Reciprocal Automatic Aid Agreement. Currently the technical infrastructure is not in place to accommodate this service approach since it would require direct communication between the city and CALFIRE Dispatch through a Computer Aided Dispatch system (CAD). Having CAD to CAD in place would allow for any asset to respond to an incident based on proximity. There are some other issues that would likely need to be addressed such as staffing levels as well as ensuring there are paramedic services, Advanced Live Support (ALS), provided on each responding apparatus.
Merced County Consideration
The Merced County Board of Supervisors are anticipated to have a report on this item and a broader discussion on Fire and EMS at their meeting scheduled for December 10, 2024. They are also expected to consider the proposed agreement at their meeting scheduled for December 17, 2024, provided the agreement is approved by the council on December 16, 2024.
Long Standing History of Cooperation
It should be noted that the City and County have a long-standing history of working together in the Fire and EMS areas. Both City of Merced Fire and Merced County CALFIRE have experience working side by side under mutual aid calls to incidents in each other’s jurisdictions. Recently the Merced County Board of Supervisors approved a request allowing Merced Fire to become an ALS support provider to better serve city residents. Entering into the proposed aid agreement is another step in the evolution of this established relationship.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
Should the agreement be approved the Finance Officer will be authorized to make revenue increase adjustment in the amount of $157,692 to the budget to reflect the additional revenue for the payment for service for Fiscal Year 2024-25. All future fiscal year revenue will be included in future fiscal year budgets.
The SAFER grant does not cover overtime costs, some benefit costs, or some indirect cost allocations. The additional revenue from the proposed service agreement could be used to help augment those items. The revenue could also be pledged for apparatus and facility needs. Staff would also be supportive to utilize these funds to potentially implement the CAD to CAD system.
Recommendation C will require an affirmative 5 votes.
ATTACHMENTS
1. City and Merced County Stop Gap Fire and Emergency Services Agreement
2. City Council Presentation - May 6, 2024
3. City Council Presentation - December 9, 2024
4. City Council Presentation - December 16, 2024